Butter Croissants Recipe

Croissants are a light and airy pastry that are usually topped with a spread of jelly or butter and is sometimes filled with slices of cheese or meat. It’s a classic breakfast bread but shows up at meals all day long.

Your bread machine can make part of this process simple, but to make a true pastry or croissant you to have to repeatedly fold and roll out the dough between a thin sheet of butter bound with flour. The growing layers of butter between the sheet of dough is what gives this pastry its flaky texture.

This is a bit of a complicated recipe in terms of the steps to create a pastry dough, but the effort is worth it when you taste the result.

INGREDIENTS:

Butter Sheet:

1 cup of butter at room temperature but not melted

1/3 cup of all-purpose flour

Dough Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup of milk

¼ cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 ¼ teaspoon of bread machine yeast or active dry yeast

4 additional cups of all-purpose flour

1 egg

½ teaspoon of lemon extract (optional)

½ teaspoon of almond extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1

The first thing you need to make is a couple of butter sheets because we’re going to be rolling out two sheets of pastry. This butter sheet consists of your one cup of softened butter and your 1/3 cup of flour. We always try to find ways to use the bread machine with any complex recipe, but for this first step you’re better off creaming the butter and flour together using a plastic spatula or in a bowl using a table top mixer. Once you have blended the flour and butter, divide it into two pieces and roll out using a rolling pin with the flour butter mixture placed between two sheets of wax paper. Roll it thin into two evenly sized sheets about 8 x 14 inches and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2

Add the remaining ingredients to the bread pan of the bread machine but make sure the milk is 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius. The easiest way to do this is to put the milk into a microwave on high in a Pyrex measuring cup for 45 seconds. Once you have added all of the ingredients to the bread pan select the basic dough setting and press start. When done you’re ready to roll out the dough on a floured surface.

3

Cut the dough in half.

4

Roll out with a rolling pin until you have roughly a 14-inch sheet. Don’t worry if you have some rounded or irregular edges. As you fold it will evolve into a rectangular shape.

5

Remove one sheet of the cold butter and flour mixture from the wax paper

6

Place to the left on the rolled-out dough. You may find that the butter sheet breaks apart. That’s okay. Just build the pieces on one side of the dough.

7

You could also pop the wax paper into the freezer for a couple of minutes if you need to firm up the butter/flour sheet. Repeat this with the other sheet of dough.

8

Fold the dough in half like a book and seal the edges with your fingers.

9

Roll each piece of the dough into roughly a 20 x 12-inch piece.

10

Here again, don’t worry if it’s a bit irregular. The next step will start to give you a rectangular shape.

11

Fold the dough again into thirds by folding the long sides inwards towards the center.

12

Repeat the folding into thirds step and rolling out the dough one more time and then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

13

After 30 minutes, fold and roll the dough as before using a triple fold. Do this twice and return to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes to keep the butter firm.

14

Roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Trim the sides to create a rectangle

15

Cut long pyramid shapes in the cough.

16

Take one of the pyramids and stretch it lightly and then roll up starting at the wide base and rolling towards the tip.

17

Place the raw croissant on a buttered baking sheet and repeat until all of the croissants have been rolled up.

18

Cover the croissants with plastic wrap and let them rise for one hour.

19

As an option you can glaze the croissants with a glaze of one egg yolk whisked with one tablespoon of water.

20

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius. Bake for 30 minutes or until Croissants are browned and serve.

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS:

Butter Sheet:

1 cup of butter at room temperature but not melted

1/3 cup of all-purpose flour

Dough Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup of milk

¼ cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 ¼ teaspoon of bread machine yeast or active dry yeast

4 additional cups of all-purpose flour

1 egg

½ teaspoon of lemon extract (optional)

½ teaspoon of almond extract (optional)

Directions

DIRECTIONS:

1

The first thing you need to make is a couple of butter sheets because we’re going to be rolling out two sheets of pastry. This butter sheet consists of your one cup of softened butter and your 1/3 cup of flour. We always try to find ways to use the bread machine with any complex recipe, but for this first step you’re better off creaming the butter and flour together using a plastic spatula or in a bowl using a table top mixer. Once you have blended the flour and butter, divide it into two pieces and roll out using a rolling pin with the flour butter mixture placed between two sheets of wax paper. Roll it thin into two evenly sized sheets about 8 x 14 inches and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2

Add the remaining ingredients to the bread pan of the bread machine but make sure the milk is 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius. The easiest way to do this is to put the milk into a microwave on high in a Pyrex measuring cup for 45 seconds. Once you have added all of the ingredients to the bread pan select the basic dough setting and press start. When done you’re ready to roll out the dough on a floured surface.

3

Cut the dough in half.

4

Roll out with a rolling pin until you have roughly a 14-inch sheet. Don’t worry if you have some rounded or irregular edges. As you fold it will evolve into a rectangular shape.

5

Remove one sheet of the cold butter and flour mixture from the wax paper

6

Place to the left on the rolled-out dough. You may find that the butter sheet breaks apart. That’s okay. Just build the pieces on one side of the dough.

7

You could also pop the wax paper into the freezer for a couple of minutes if you need to firm up the butter/flour sheet. Repeat this with the other sheet of dough.

8

Fold the dough in half like a book and seal the edges with your fingers.

9

Roll each piece of the dough into roughly a 20 x 12-inch piece.

10

Here again, don’t worry if it’s a bit irregular. The next step will start to give you a rectangular shape.

11

Fold the dough again into thirds by folding the long sides inwards towards the center.

12

Repeat the folding into thirds step and rolling out the dough one more time and then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

13

After 30 minutes, fold and roll the dough as before using a triple fold. Do this twice and return to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes to keep the butter firm.

14

Roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Trim the sides to create a rectangle

15

Cut long pyramid shapes in the cough.

16

Take one of the pyramids and stretch it lightly and then roll up starting at the wide base and rolling towards the tip.

17

Place the raw croissant on a buttered baking sheet and repeat until all of the croissants have been rolled up.

18

Cover the croissants with plastic wrap and let them rise for one hour.

19

As an option you can glaze the croissants with a glaze of one egg yolk whisked with one tablespoon of water.

20

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius. Bake for 30 minutes or until Croissants are browned and serve.

Steve Nubie has been writing professionally for 38 years. He is a Chef and has traveled across Asia and Europe studying language, culture and cuisine. He instructs culinary classes in the Culinary School at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and has written extensively on cuisine, cooking, diet and nutrition. He is a published author of 10 books including a cookbook and continues to write on subjects related to culinary trends.